Category: News

Last Week At The Sh*t Show–09Aug26

Just another week full of Donny’s mumbling and tirades….his useless war still is on (or is it….no one is sure these days)….

As usual Donny shows just how incompetent he truly is…..and it just keeps getting bad.

Does anyone remember that big fight that Donny had on the WH grounds?

Did not go as planned…..

Hosting cage fights on the White House lawn doesn’t come cheap. TKO Group Holdings, parent of the UFC, told investors on Monday that June’s “UFC Freedom 250” at the White House cost about $60 million to produce and ultimately shaved roughly $30 million off the company’s bottom line for the event, the Hill reports. The company had anticipated the loss, in part because there were no public ticket sales: About 4,000 guests, including Trump administration officials, lawmakers, business leaders, and service members, attended for free.

The one-off spectacle, held on President Trump’s birthday and attended by UFC CEO Dana White, also helped drag down revenue from live events and hospitality year-over-year. Still, TKO executives defended the show, citing more than $1 billion in “earned media value” and 25 new marketing partners, and said overall quarterly net income rose to $303.9 million, a boost of nearly $31 million from Q2 of 2025. Still, White says not to expect a repeat of the event he praised (“you couldn’t have had a better night”), which Bloomberg notes was the first time a combat sports competition had ever taken place on the White House’s South Lawn. “I can’t afford it,” White said, per USA Today. “We’ll never do this again.”

A loss of $30 million now they know what it cost to help Donny in his lame plans.

There were a couple of good news stories that made Donny fume….first more so-called terrorists at the ‘pool’ were freed….

Prosecutors are backing further away from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool accusations. The US attorney’s office in Washington has moved to dismiss misdemeanor vandalism charges against three more people, days after dropping a felony case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn. The reversals follow an internal finding that the “widespread damage” to the pool’s new blue lining stemmed from shoddy contractor work, not vandalism, the New York Times reports. President Trump responded by ripping US Attorney Jeanine Pirro over the handling of the case, and he’s talked about firing her, per the Wall Street Journal.

Prosecutors want to drop the cases against Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby, and Cameron Thiers, who all were charged with destruction of property less than $1,000. Pirro said Interior Department officials initially pointed the finger at supposed vandals, even as the new coating began failing within 48 hours of installation. Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a small Virginia firm that received a no-bid contract to make the repairs, is now blamed for a flawed job. That conflicts with the president’s narrative. In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump accused Pirro of having “folded like an umbrella” and “choked,” again insisting, “It was vandalism.” A spokesman for the US attorney’s office declined to say whether any Reflecting Pool cases remain on the books.

At least some of his lies are being corrected.

And then Trump.org account suspended…..

Capital One is now publicly saying why it cut ties with the Trump Organization—and it’s not politics, the bank insists. In a new court filing, Capital One says it shut down hundreds of Trump-related accounts in 2021 after months of internal review over “transaction patterns” that raised anti–money laundering concerns, CNN reports. The bank, which did not accuse the Trump Organization of specific crimes, says a specialized team with long law-enforcement experience handled the analysis and gave the company months to move its money elsewhere.

The Trump Organization sued in federal court in Florida last year, arguing it was “debanked” for “woke” political reasons and suffered major financial fallout. A spokesperson called Capital One’s explanation “completely baseless” and claimed the bank “manufactured” a justification after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack to cover a “plainly” politically driven decision. Capital One is asking the judge to dismiss the case, calling the claims vague and unsupported. In Friday’s filing, the bank said the allegations of political bias are “misguided” and based on “cherry-picked quotations unsupported by the full context” of documents the bank submitted to the court, reports Reuters.

“The transaction patterns identified by Capital One are among the types of activity flagged by federal banking guidance,” the bank wrote. Reuters notes that the court has already rejected two complaints in the case, but has allowed amended complaints to be filed each time. Capitol One said the latest complaint, which was filed last month, “suffers from the same fundamental flaws as their prior two pleadings.”

I’m not surprised….are you?

Our aged Donny has his name of something else….But it is in Morocco…

Morocco has quietly turned a key desert highway into a tribute to the US president, the BBC reports. A newly published letter from King Mohammed VI confirms that the former Tiznit-Dakhla route—running more than 650 miles into the disputed Western Sahara—has been renamed in honor of Donald Trump. The king called the road a “strategic axis” linking northern Morocco to what Rabat describes as the country’s southern provinces. In the July 2 letter, he praised Trump’s 2020 decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, calling it a “historic” move that would remain in Moroccans’ memory “from generation to generation.”

The road—now known as the Donald J. Trump Highway, per the Hill—cuts through territory claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the local Sahrawi people. While the UN still classifies Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory and backs a long-promised referendum that has never happened, some European governments have recently shifted toward supporting Morocco’s plan to grant autonomy, but not independence, to Western Sahara. Trump, who had already thanked the king in a Truth Social post before Morocco confirmed the move, said he hopes to drive the full length of the road “someday, hopefully soon.”

He ought to strut around for awhile.

Then we have a MAGA moron….

Sen. Tuberville of Alabama (who is an idiot) has a plan to stop immigrants from voting in the state elections (there is NO proof they are doing so)

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville warned about immigrants voting in American elections Wednesday, and suggested Alabama may need to build its own border wall to protect against terrorists.

“I’m going to go back to Alabama and, hey, we might build a 30-foot wall around our state, because I know what’s coming. I can see it coming, I can hear it coming. You can just smell it out there, that they want to take this country over.”

“They’re a lot more aggressive than we are as Americans,” Tuberville said.

A spokesperson told AL.com Tuberville was referring to “radical Islamic terrorists who want to destroy America.”

https://www.al.com/news/2026/08/tuberville-says-we-might-build-a-30-foot-wall-around-alabama.html

A great idea!  I live next door to Alabama I I do not want to go there…..

Donny hates alternative energy so m,uch that he will pay for it to shutdown….

A major offshore wind player just cashed out of the US—which was the Trump administration’s plan. German energy giant RWE will receive $1.22 billion from the federal government to surrender three offshore wind leases off New York, Louisiana, and California, with the money steered toward liquefied natural gas and gas-fired power projects instead, Reuters reports. It’s the largest in a string of deals this year in which the administration has paid developers to abandon offshore wind plans, part of its broader push to expand fossil fuels and roll back support for clean energy. The government has now spent nearly $4 billion on such settlements, per the AP.

RWE said US permitting made the projects unworkable, so it’s refocusing on projects with “certainty.” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum praised the deal on Thursday, saying Americans “deserve an energy system built on common sense, not one dependent on costly subsidies or technologies that can’t meet our country’s current demand.” Democrats and environmental groups ripped the strategy, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warning it could raise consumers’ energy costs. Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said the lease buybacks are effectively a bribe to companies to step away from clean energy that can displace more expensive fossil fuel plants, which in turn will raise costs for consumers. “They are creating this enormous money pump, pulling billions of dollars out of consumers’ pockets,” Whitehouse said. “That’s the real story of what is going on here.”

Gotta keep the oil giants happy.

Finally, someone has predicted Donny will resign within a month….

An experienced political strategist has suggested that President Donald Trump could quit his post as leader of the United States within months.

In recent months, there have been growing questions about whether Trump is fit to lead, with concerns raised about his health and mental acuity. Trump, who has been accused by his own staff of ‘letting his appearance go’ on purpose after a sloppy discovery, has been seen visiting the Walter Reed medical facility several times in 2026, causing greater attention to be drawn towards his physical as well as his psychological health. This comes as he veers from one strategy to another when it comes to the war with Iran, which has seen gas prices rise around the world, especially in the USA, where people are becoming more worried about the cost of living.

With this in mind, and the potential for a cataclysmic loss in the upcoming midterms, political strategist James Carville believes that Trump will actually resign the presidency early next year. Speaking to the Daily Beast’s Chief Content Officer Joanna Coles, Mr Carville said: “He’s gonna quit. I think he’s going to get up and walk out of it. First of all, he’s not being paid attention to right now. “The Iranians won’t return his phone call. He’s going to lose so decisively in November. You’ve no idea how the world is going to change around him, his power is going to just seep right out. No one’s going to even care. People really don’t care what he says anymore. He is going to walk away.” On when he might walk away, Mr Carville suggested it could be as early as April next year. He said: “I tell people April 15th. “He has no idea what’s coming for him. He has no idea how tough and how difficult [it is]. He’s not up to this. He’s just too old, he’s too fat, he’s too stupid, he can’t do this.” It comes after Karoline Leavitt accidentally humiliated Trump as critics asked about his ‘diaper’.

(themirror.com)

As much as I would like this to be true I think it is basically wishful thinking.

Now to give you something to smile about after all the depressing crap I wrote about….

That does it for me…..please everyone enjoy the rest of your weekend….and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–08Aug26

Another sweltering week in the Deep South and another week of news that did not make onto the front page….that is where I come in…..

Question of the week:  Why do so many women want to be blonde?

Local–Not much interesting happening this past week other than the heat and the humidity.

Personal–After many doctor’s visit the conclusion of that extra shadow on my lung is most likely a scar from radiation but of course  they want to keep an eye on it.

I bought a new washing machine, no bells or whistles just a standard top loading simple washer….cost $700 and then found that I have a weak valve that needs replacing and since my home insurance went up to $1500 a month I will have to wait before a get a hook up….ain’t retirement wonderful?

Shall we begin the ordeal?

This person gets my title of “hero”….

An animal-rights influencer in Texas has announced a bounty of $10,000 for the identities of any Wyoming hunters who might lawfully kill gray wolves that venture outside Yellowstone National Park.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department called the bounty an “outrageous” attempt to harass hunters.

Jonas Black of Austin published the reward to Facebook Wednesday. In a post of an AI-generated graphic titled “Wildlife Outlaws,” he offered a $10,000 reward for “information regarding anyone who would harvest [wolf] 1090F or a member of her pack.”

“Anybody harvests one of these wolves during Wyoming’s wolf season and somebody snitches? That snitch gets ten grand cash,” Black wrote. “And the person who pulls the trigger? We’re going to make them famous. What happened to the guy who killed Cecil the lion is going to look like child’s play next to the heat that comes with this one.”

Despite seeking information about lawful hunters, Black told Cowboy State Daily that he is not against hunting and that he supports fair chase. He claims hunting wild wolves that have lived inside Yellowstone is like “shooting a dog.” It is illegal to hunt or trap inside Yellowstone National Park, but game can and does leave its legal boundaries every year.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/bounty-wolf-hunter-identities/

With all the ‘information’ and I use the term loosely….there are those that keep believing….

Could ancient humans really have built the pyramids without extraterrestrial help? Or do such questions reveal more about modern anxieties than the past itself?

The idea that aliens assisted the builders of ancient monuments was promoted by the Swiss author Erich von Däniken in his bestselling book Chariot of the Gods – published in 1968. Von Däniken died in January 2026, but his vision of ancient astronauts still captivates millions.

The author had pointed to ancient structures such as the pyramids, along with enigmatic ancient artefacts, as supposed evidence that beings from beyond Earth shaped the civilisations of the past.

Though these ideas have been repeatedly debunked, television shows such as the History Channel’s Ancient Aliens continue to air similar narratives.

https://theconversation.com/why-some-people-still-believe-that-aliens-shaped-ancient-civilisations-277993

I do not buy into this theory in the least.

There are some scientists that are working on those near-death experiences…..

In the 1960s, while filming Cleopatra, the actress Elizabeth Taylor developed such a severe case of pneumonia that she fell into a coma and was pronounced dead by doctors, according to her own account on The Oprah Winfrey Show. While Taylor was in a nonresponsive state, she apparently had a near-death experience. She remembered seeing the doctors working on her in the operating room, and saying they thought they had “lost” her. She remembered a brief reunion with her ex-husband and producer Mike Todd, who had passed away a few years earlier. She remembered Todd telling her it wasn’t yet her time. When she eventually recovered from the coma and the pneumonia, she had lost her fear of death, she told Winfrey.

Taylor’s experience has some of the classic features of a near-death experience, or NDE, a term first coined in 1975 by psychiatrist, philosopher, and researcher Rick Moody, who had one himself. There are now hundreds of such accounts in the research literature, and yet they remain among the most mysterious phenomena known to neuroscience. This is partly because much of what scientists do know about them comes from subjective self-reports from survivors long after the experience is over. But as resuscitation science has improved, more people are surviving life-threatening events, such as comas and cardiac arrest, which is changing the tools we have to plumb their depths.

One Belgian researcher named Charlotte Martial, from the University of Liege, recently completed the first EEG recordings of patients in the throes of near-death experiences and helped to develop a neurophysiological model that she says can explain how they arise and why they might have evolved. I talked with Martial, who has been studying near-death experiences for over a decade, about how NDE memories shift over time, the possible adaptive value of NDEs for humans, and what mysteries remain.

https://nautil.us/the-new-science-of-the-near-death-experience-1279957

I really do not buy into these things….I guess it is one of those things that one needs to experience.

Let’s venture into the world of weight lose….you know those GLP-1 thingys….

Weight-loss injections may be shrinking waistlines—and blowing up marriages. That’s an emerging concern around GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, as rapid physical change collides with long-established relationships. A Swedish study on gastric band patients found those who lost weight quickly were roughly twice as likely to divorce; its lead researcher tells the Telegraph similar patterns may follow the GLP-1 boom, as one partner’s “new life” leaves the other behind.

In interviews, spouses describe two main shifts: revived desirability and dampened desire. Some, like Emily, say newfound attention from others exposed how sexually dormant their marriages had become. Others report the opposite—partners who slimmed down but seemed emotionally “flat,” less interested in food, fun, and sex. Biologist Giles Yeo notes the drugs don’t just dull appetite; they can blunt reward pathways more broadly. That can mean fewer late-night feasts and wine-fueled parties—but also less enthusiasm for intimacy and shared pleasures. As one husband put it, he never expected his wife’s once-a-week shot would reshape his own life so much. His hope? That “one day soon she decides to go off them.”

There is so much on the negative side to these injections….but a fad is a fad….

This is the best and worse healthcare in the country….

New Hampshire may be better known for its foliage, but a new analysis says its healthcare is what really stands out. WalletHub ranked all 50 states and Washington, DC, on nearly four dozen measures of cost, access, and outcomes and found the Granite State on top. New Hampshire’s edge comes from having the lowest average monthly health insurance premiums in the country, at about $469, and the second-lowest out-of-pocket costs. Here, the top and bottom 10 states:

Best States

  1. New Hampshire
  2. Minnesota
  3. Iowa
  4. Rhode Island
  5. Hawaii
  6. Massachusetts
  7. Maine
  8. Wisconsin
  9. Colorado
  10. Nebraska

Worst States

  1. Tennessee
  2. Arkansas
  3. New Mexico
  4. Louisiana
  5. Alabama
  6. West Virginia
  7. Texas
  8. Georgia
  9. Mississippi
  10. Alaska

See how other states rank here.

Golly be!  My state is next to last….go figure.

Have you noticed that most of the worst healthcare is in the South….once again….go figure.

How does your state measure up?

Finally more useless plastic research….

That plastic bottle you just threw away in the recycling bin? According to the latest US industry figures, there is still less than a one-in-three chance that it will be recycled. The US collection rate for PET bottles stood at 30.2% in 2024, while the average recycled content in US PET bottles reached 15.9%.

Even when a bottle is recycled, it may not be turned into another food or beverage bottle. It can instead become packaging, clothing fibre or another product. Repeated processing, contamination and additives can gradually damage the plastic’s properties and limit what manufacturers can make from it.

But what if there was a way to recycle plastic a third, tenth, or even one-hundredth time? Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder believe this is indeed possible for certain plastics designed with recycling in mind. They described how they broke down a type of hard plastic used in aerospace and microelectronics into its basic building blocks. They then used those building blocks to make the same type of plastic again without sacrificing its desirable properties.

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/study-recycles-plastic-on-and-on-rep/

There is always a solution we are told and yet nothing is being done.

That does it for me on this Saturday….I hope everyone enjoys there day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

‘lego ergo scribo’

What The Hell Is This?

The religious psycho-babble.

It is no secret that I truly dislike the Pentagon boss, Pistol Pete, I believe everything he says and does is wrong on so many levels.  His fascination with the male body, his disdain for women, his utter lunacy of warmongering and so on…..but recently he has taking to social media and posted some weird biblical quotes….

As senior military leaders privately warned that the war with Iran was straining U.S. forces, depleting key missile defenses, and leaving the military without sufficient naval resources to continue protecting Israel, the Pentagon turned to Christian scripture in its official social media messaging.

On Saturday, two Defense Department accounts on X posted images overlaid with the words “SEND ME.” The agency’s Rapid Response account published the phrase on a picture of a service member watching a helicopter above an aircraft carrier. Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell quoted Isaiah 6:8 in a post and included the all-caps phrase on an image of a soldier silhouetted in the dark. The Department of War’s official account amplified both posts.

Isaiah 6:8 is a verse that appears in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament in which the prophet Isaiah answers a divine call. When God asks, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah replies, “Here am I. Send me.” The passage is widely used in many Christian traditions as an expression of accepting God’s call to a divine mission. The verses that follow describe God sending Isaiah to proclaim a message of judgment that culminates in cities “without inhabitant,” houses emptied of people, and the land left “utterly desolate” before eventual restoration.

angelical culture “almost entirely as a standalone missions text,” commonly invoked at missions conferences, ordinations, and altar calls as a declaration of willingness to serve. “The most important context of Isaiah 6, the part most people miss, is that the devastation falls on God’s covenant people,” Tisby said. “The nation doing the sending, not a foreign enemy, is in view here.”

 

The Pentagon Is Posting Cryptic Biblical Messages on Social Media

What the Hell is going on with this douchebag?

If he wants to preach then I suggest that he get a podcast and fleece his listeners like most of them do….

I know this idiot thinks himself as some sort of crusader but stop wasting time….do your job and let the pros do the preaching to the sheep.

What a worthless POS.

Educate, Agitate

I Read, I Write, You Know

cogito ergo agito

4 Million And Counting

The most vulnerable members of our society have lost the benefits that we hard won in decades past.  Donny and his entourage have seen that food aid especially has been cut and in some cases fazed out.

Let’s look at the stats for hunger in the US….

Key findings from the ERS report:

  • 1 in 7 households (13.7 percent) in America experienced food insecurity, or lack of access to an affordable, nutritious diet, in 2024.
  • 14.1 million children lived in households that experienced food insecurity in 2024, a slight increase from the 13.8 million children reported in 2023.
  • More single-parent households headed by women experienced food insecurity at 36.8 percent, nearly 2 percent higher than 2023 (34.7 percent).
  • Rates of food insecurity remained high for Black (24.4 percent) and Latinx (20.2 percent) households. The rate for Black households was more than double the 10.1 percent rate for White, non-Latinx households.
  • Households in the Southern region continued to experience the highest rates of food insecurity at 15.0 percent.
  • Food insecurity was significantly higher in urban areas (16.0 percent) and rural areas (15.9 percent) compared to suburban areas (11.9 percent).

The newest figures are very disturbing…..

Over 4 million people have already lost access to food aid under the Trump administration’s new SNAP mandates, and experts warn the worst is yet to come. According to NPR, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, has seen a sharp decline in participation since last July, with preliminary data showing enrollment dropped by 11% between then and April. That translates to 5 million fewer people receiving food stamps each month.

The changes stem from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping tax and spending package that reworked SNAP’s eligibility rules and funding structure. The White House framed the overhaul as a way to trim a “bloated” program that had strayed from its mission of providing “temporary help.” But critics argue the new rules are already pushing vulnerable families into deeper food insecurity, with children bearing the brunt of the cuts.

Starsky Wilson, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, called the speed of the decline alarming. “There are some supports that are still staged to go away later this year,” he said. “So there could be an even greater sense of desperation among children and their families as we come to the end of this year.”

https://www.themarysue.com/over-4-million-people-have-already-lost-food-aid-under-trumps-new-mandates-but-the-most-devastating-cuts-are-still-hiding-in-the-fine-print/

Anyone who does not see how tragic those figures are then they do not deserve to call themselves an American.

It is a sin to allow people to go hunger when we have the ability but not the desire to make things better.

That is a pathetic stat from a pathetic leader and his admin….and they pretend to be christian…all I can saw about that is….MY ASS!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The State’s Primaries Battles

The big news was that the progressive won in Michigan primary but there were other races in other states that did not get as much ink.

We have a little FYI…..breakdown of the races….

https://theweek.com/politics/democratic-primaries-wins-leftist-center

Meanwhile back to Michigan….it is fascinating because AIPAC spent a ba-zillion dollars to defeat El-Sayed and it failed spectacularly….but not to worry AIPAC and their cash will not go away in Michigan….The Democratic establishment squandered its remaining credibility kowtowing to AIPAC, the most powerful foreign lobby, widening the chasm between the Democratic base and its leadership. AIPAC funding and endorsements from Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer and Gretchen Whitmer carried little weight in Democratic primaries.

AIPAC just spent $32 million trying to beat Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary—and lost. Now the pro-Israel lobbying giant is weighing a second, more unusual maneuver, by putting serious money behind Republican nominee Mike Rogers in the November general election. The tactic would mark a sharp break for an organization that has long cast itself as firmly bipartisan and only began direct election spending in 2022, the New York Times reports. El-Sayed defeated US Rep. Haley Stevens, who had AIPAC’s backing, in a close race on Tuesday.

AIPAC’s United Democracy Project super PAC has about $80 million in the bank, and allies expect “tens of millions” could flow into the Michigan race. AIPAC’s spokesperson said its members are determined to see voters reject El-Sayed, who has centered criticism of Israel in his campaign and pledged to cut off US aid. Rogers, by contrast, calls himself a strong backer of Israel. The group’s primary spending has drawn blowback, per the Times, with polling showing nearly half of Michigan Democrats view AIPAC unfavorably and strategists warning that heavy-handed intervention is backfiring in blue primaries. Still, some donors want AIPAC to “double down.” There are pro-Israel voices warning that siding with a Republican in a swing-state Senate race could further erode AIPAC’s standing with Democrats.

It is no secret that I do not like or trust AIPAC and their intentions….so to say I am pleased that they lost their cash puts a smile on my face.

I doubt that this was a major concern of the voter, their pro-Israel stance, the fact that their candidate lost is a good sign for the US….I just hope this becomes a trend and AIPAC looses all the political teeth.

Maybe now more people will see AIPAC for what it is…..a foreign agent that influences the voting here in the US.

The fun will be that a challenge for debates has been offered…..

After winning Michigan’s Democratic primary contest for US Senate, Abdul El-Sayed wasted no time on Wednesday, challenging the Republican nominee, former Congressman Mike Rogers, to five debates before the November general election.

“Mike,” El-Sayed said at a podium while speaking with reporters on Wednesday morning, “I know you’re gonna say no ‘cause you’re a coward: Five debates, all right?”

“If you’re willing to stand with me and have a conversation—you and I both know that you will wither in front of your own crimes. But Imma make sure Michiganders know about them,” he continued. “By the time we’re done, you are not gonna have safe quarter from people holding you accountable to what you’ve done for them here in Michigan. We will send you back to Florida where you belong.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/abdul-el-sayed-results

It will be fun to hear what excuses Rogers will offer to avoid the debate.

Does anyone think that Rogers is willing to put his MAGA leaning policies to the public in this forum….I say nope…..after all like most MAGA leaning people he is a coward.

Anything to add?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It Is A Primary Win!

After all the money and mud slung at the progressive candidate the Michigan primary is a win for the progressive….cool!

Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s Democratic nomination for US Senate, defeating US Rep. Haley Stevens in a massive victory for the party’s progressive wing in a battleground state. The real test of El-Sayed’s and progressives’ strength will now come in a November matchup against Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination. The seat is pivotal to Democrats’ chances of flipping the Senate, and El-Sayed will face the challenge of uniting a divided Democratic base after a bruising primary. The race remained tight throughout Tuesday night, with a winner not declared until early Wednesday, reports the AP. In his final remarks at a primary night party before the race was called, El-Sayed said “tomorrow we begin to mend fences.” El-Sayed’s campaign said Stevens called to concede Wednesday.

El-Sayed’s win represents a significant shift for the Democratic Party; in 2018 he lost the gubernatorial primary to now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by 21 percentage points. El-Sayed, a former health official, campaigned on “Medicare for All,” halting military aid to Israel, and campaign finance reform. Now comes the more difficult challenge for Democrats: uniting the party to defeat Rogers, for whom Republicans have already reserved large sums of money ahead of the general election. Democrats consider the seat a must-win if they are to flip control of the Senate this year. Those stakes have added heat to the rivalry, with moderates arguing that El-Sayed would have a harder time than Stevens against a Republican in the general election.

While El-Sayed has said he is not a democratic socialist, he found support from some of the group’s members. That included Melat Kiros, who recently beat a longtime incumbent in a Democratic primary for a Denver-based House seat and was at El-Sayed’s watch party. Also there was Hasan Piker, a progressive and controversial influencer online. National groups poured unprecedented sums into the race, making it one of the country’s biggest tests of outside spending.

A great thing for Michigan in my opinion…..but do not get too excited just yet for he has to meet the GOP’s candidate and who knows what the spineless moderates will do come election time.

Somebody needs to track where the opposition money comes from and keep us peasants informed….and that will not be the MSM.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Conflict End Run?

Donny has been playing grab ass with Iran for months now….it is an on again off again then back on conflict….lots of chest thumping like a sex crazed primate and lots of international chaos….not to mention my grocery bill going through the roof.

In the center of this war, excluding the magical hold the Israel has on Donny, is the Strait of Hormuz….where a lot of oil must travel to get to market.

In the silence of the night two players in this conflict pull an end run on Donny….

Oil prices fell and stocks climbed into record territory on Tuesday after US Treasury chief Scott Bessent said a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was expected “today or tomorrow,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Not much is confirmed about the deal, though the New York Times reports that Iran and Oman are close to hammering out an agreement that would route incoming ships through an Iran-controlled channel and outgoing vessels near Oman. The nations would share a “service fee”—not a toll, but that may be a matter of semantics— from traveling ships to cover security and environmental costs.

The Times notes that getting oil and cargo moving again would ease market pressure and deliver a badly needed political win for Trump, with a catch: The deal still being worked out appears to give Tehran more leverage over the international waterway than it had before the war began. As analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group puts it, Trump now faces a choice between “an unwinnable war and an unpalatable peace.”

Those “service fees” or tolls for ships transiting the Strait. Muscat and Tehran will split the funds. Additionally, Tehran will have full control over inbound traffic while Iran and Oman will have joint control over outbound shipping.

What Donny will not get his cut?

This should not fly well at the next cabinet meeting.

But believe it or not Donny has something to say….

U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal on the Strait of Hormuz could come as early as Wednesday or Thursday, while Iran and Oman inched toward an agreement to reopen the critical waterway and potentially help bring an end to the war.

Trump was asked by reporters traveling with him in California about a report on the Axios news site that an announcement on the Strait of Hormuz could be made on Wednesday.

“It could happen. Tomorrow or the next day,” he said, speaking on Tuesday evening California time, which was already Wednesday morning in the Middle East. “A lot of progress has been made.”

(apnews.com)

Positive right?

But if Donny holds true to form he will screw this up as well.

Is the lack of long range missiles fueling his acceptance?

Will Israel have something to say?

Stay tuned I am sure there will be more to this story.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What The Hell Is “Anti-Weaponization Fund”?

I have been hearing this term, anti-weaponization fund, a lot in recent days…..but just what the Hell is it and how does it work?

Thanx to Axios we can have our answer….

President Trump sued his own administration, settled and will now spend $1.776 billion of taxpayer money to pay people who say the government targeted them politically.

Why it matters: The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” turns a personal Trump settlement into a new government program, shields decisions on who gets the money from the courts and limits information about what the public knows about where the funds go.

The backstory: Trump sued the IRS and Treasury in January for $10 billion over the 2019 leak of his tax returns. The settlement gives Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization a formal apology but no money, and it bars the IRS from auditing Trump’s past tax returns.

  • Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, created the Anti-Weaponization Fund with the Treasury Department’s Judgment Fund.

How it works: The attorney general will handpick the five-member commission that decides who will collect money from the fund, which ends in December 2028.

  • Those decisions can’t be appealed or challenged in court. The settlement does not require public disclosure of payouts.
  • The settlement lets the fund spend part of the $1.776 billion on itself, including staff, travel and facilities. The Justice Department and the White House did not answer Axios’ question about whether there is any cap on those costs.

There is so much more….

https://www.axios.com/2026/05/20/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-judgment-fund-explainer

Donny spends more time with the court systems than he does running the country….and when he does focus on the country he is running it into the ground.

Anyway the Fund and Blanche…..

The nomination of Todd Blanche to be the next permanent attorney general has foundered in part over a controversial “anti-weaponization fund.” On Friday, President Trump offered a strong defense of the fund, which could further complicate Blanche’s road to confirmation, reports CNN. Blanche, the acting AG, has said the fund is “dead,” but GOP Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn want a written guarantee he won’t revive the $1.8 billion measure. Critics call it a slush fund for Trump allies.

In his Friday post, Trump insisted the fund wouldn’t benefit him personally, but would compensate “victims of government abuse,” per Reuters. The president stopped short of saying the fund should be revived, but his lengthy defense of it may give further ammo to other senators wary of its resurrection. Trump also insisted that Blanche, “a good man, should be immediately approved” as AG. On Thursday, the president floated the idea of temporarily withdrawing the nomination until Tillis and Cornyn leave the Senate in January. The fund stems from Trump’s settlement of a lawsuit with the IRS, another source of controversy, and GOP senators on Thursday blocked an attempt to modify that deal.

Donny is so full of shit…he does NOTHING that does not benefit him….PERIOD!

Then acting AG issued a edict….

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an order Sunday evening formally rescinding plans to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of President Trump.

The order came after Republican Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn threatened to block Blanche’s confirmation for the permanent position to lead the Justice Department.

“The Attorney General’s May 18, 2026 Order establishing the Anti-WeaponizationFund (“Fund”) is rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” the order states.

“For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Order is intended to contradict or otherwise be contrary to prior representations by the Department of Justice that the Fund is not operative. No Members were appointed; no funds were transferred; no process for receiving claims was established; no claims were paid. Nevertheless, several frivolous lawsuits have been filed challenging the Fund, and at least one court has declined to dismiss those claims as moot,” it continues. “This Order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/todd-blanche-anti-weaponization-fund-order/

Wassup with this?  I do not trust this turn.

Enough said.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Last Week At The Sh*t Show–02Aug26

Holy Crap!  I am writing this post at 2 am and the temp outside is 92…I hate Summer!

After all the ‘big talk’ I read that Donny has called off any strikes on Iran

President Donald Trump said on Saturday he agreed to cancel an attack on Iran so the countries could “rapidly make a deal” that includes the “complete and total opening” of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The U.S.A. is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Saturday night.

“Despite this, we have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” he said, adding later that he had agreed “for the benefit of the world.”

What an imbecile….like a 5 year old child cannot make up his mind….a moron.

Another week is in the history books and another week of the silliest crap imaginable from Donny and his band of morons….even the Dems are joining in on the stupidity….but then haven’t they always played the stupid card?

The best news of the week….

Remember about a month ago all the crap Donny spread about his pool?

Federal prosecutors in Washington, DC, have moved to dismiss a destruction-of-property felony charge against former US Olympic canoeist David Hearn, acknowledging for the first time that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s liner stemmed from a contractor’s defective installation, not vandalism. In a court filing, Justice Department prosecutors said they only learned the liner’s failure was due to “a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented” after reviewing new documents, WRC reports.

The 20-page filing also attributed the pool’s problems to “the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration,” per the AP. Hearn was arrested on June 19 after stopping at the Reflecting Pool during a bike ride and touching a piece of coating that he said was already loose; he was detained for five hours. At the time, US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro alleged Hearn was seen “forcefully and violently” ripping up the liner. His attorney, Steve Levin, said the case “should never have been brought,” adding that federal officials owe Hearn an apology, per WRC.

So much for all those ‘terrorists’ lurking in the bushes.

But you guys know this idiot….he cannot admit to being wrong….

President Trump insisted Saturday that vandals are to blame for the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, even after the Justice Department contradicted his narrative. He ripped US Attorney Jeanine Pirro for moving to drop the felony destruction-of-property charge against former Olympian David Hearn, the Hill reports, writing on Truth Social that he doesn’t know “what she was thinking” and disagrees “100%” with her decision. It was “a pure case of VANDALISM,” the president posted. Prosecutors on Friday asked a judge to dismiss the charge, saying newly obtained records show the pool’s damage stemmed from construction problems, including rushing the work.

Did you expect him to just rollover?

Now for the tragic crap that Donny brings.

Is the US stealing the money?

The Trump administration has collected more than US$13 billion in revenues from Venezuelan oil sales this year, according to FT calculations, but has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money.
The U.S. took control of Venezuela’s oil exports and suspended some sanctions after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in January and installing vice-president Delcy Rodríguez as leader.
Oil revenues make up around a quarter of Venezuela’s GDP, and the sanctions relief was expected to provide a major boost to the economy, which was in crisis even before last month’s devastating earthquakes.
But six months after the U.S. seized control of the funds, economists say the evidence of a recovery in Venezuela is relatively muted — a potential sign that the U.S. has not sent all the revenues back to Caracas.
Washington has given diverging accounts of what it is doing with the money, ranging from an executive order describing its own role as “custodial” to U.S. President Donald Trump saying the U.S. was “making a lot of money” from Venezuelan oil.
I recall that it was said that we were collecting the money on behalf of the people of Venezuela….we all thought that was bullshit….and apparently it was.
So who is getting the cash?

The Iranian airstrikes are on again….Donny keeps falling and overacting to the events around this situation.

Speaking of airstrikes….remember all those boat strikes in the past?  Well they never ended just not reported….

Last September, the U.S. military fired the first of 63 strikes against 67 small fishing boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The spate of killings in Operation Southern Spear has claimed 221 lives so far, according to the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights organization.

In April, President Donald Trump boasted about the effectiveness of his extrajudicial maritime strikes against alleged drug traffickers, claiming his methods had stopped 98.2 percent of all drugs coming into the country by ocean or sea.

However, new evidence from those inside the Trump administration shows the strikes have not slowed the flow of drugs coming into the country. Instead, they’ve forced drug traffickers to “develop new strategies and tactics,” while “undermining traditional investigative methods” used by federal law enforcement, according to The Washington Post.

https://reason.com/2026/07/30/trumps-boat-strikes-killed-221-people-but-didnt-win-the-war-on-drugs/

We will never win this War on Drugs….so stop wasting money and lives.

On the diplomatic front front….the US has abandoned international law…..

President Donald Trump wants to make a dramatic show of force against Iran — potentially one that implicates U.S. soldiers in war crimes under international law. And he has consistently been unwilling to back down during internal conversations, sources familiar with administration discussions said.

Combined with the Trump administration’s ongoing push to delegitimize the International Criminal Court, one of the global institutions meant to uphold standards for warfare, observers fear the U.S. is rapidly moving to abandon norms meant to shield human rights.

https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/international-criminal-court-trump-administration-iran

The upcoming 2026 mid-terms maybe the most rigged election in our history….

Despite the combined best efforts of Donald Trump, the lackeys in his administration, most congressional Republicans, many red states, and the Supreme Court, with exactly 100 days to go until the midterms (and only 50 before voters in some states begin casting their ballots), the upcoming election may still prove to be “too big to rig” for the GOP.

That, of course, is the laughable slogan that the president used to explain why the Democrats succeeded in “stealing” the 2020 election, when they were not in power, with millions of “fraudulent” votes and in a manner that didn’t leave a trace — but then failed to flip about 115,000 votes four years later even though that would have sufficed to allow Kamala Harris to win.

As is so often the case when Trump makes an accusation — e.g., that somebody tried to steal an election from him — it’s either an admission of guilt of something he has already done or a prelude to something he plans to do.

In this case, it’s both.

The Midterms May Be the Most Rigged Election in US History

This has been the story line for months….the corruption is running deep…..even the betting industry is throwing lots of cash at the elections….

As corporations spend record sums to influence this November’s elections, new campaign finance data shows a powerful new interest fueling the trend: sports gambling companies.

FanDuel, DraftKings, and others in the sports betting industry have spent $72 million seeking to influence the upcoming election cycle, according to a report from Reuters on Tuesday.

The industry’s historic spending blitz faces growing scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers, and seeks to protect its turf against rising competitors in the prediction market business, such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which are financially tied to the Trump administration.

Sports gambling companies have become the third-largest corporate election donor in the country during this cycle behind just the technology and cryptocurrency sectors, according to a June report by the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen. These two industries have spent over $100 million promoting their interests in the upcoming midterms.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/sports-gambling-election-spending

The US attended a conference on AIDS in Africa and a major faux pas was released on the attendees….

A map meant to support a US presentation on global health instead turned into a geography lesson gone wrong. During this week’s AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro, a State Department slide showed a map of Africa in which every country was mislabeled—Nigeria appeared landlocked in the Sahara, Mozambique was shifted to the Horn of Africa, and Ivory Coast was placed on the continent’s opposite side, among other errors, Reuters reports. The botched map can be seen here.

Reuters analysis found that the image carried an AI watermark linked to OpenAI tools; the company says it is looking into it. The State Department, which blamed a rushed last-minute change by a staffer, said it “takes full responsibility” for the confusion and misrepresentation, particularly for African partners. The slide drew criticism online after AIDS expert Emily Bass posted screenshots. “Whoever created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work, said Atlantic Council’s Matt Petit.

he map appeared during a talk by Jeff Graham, the top US health envoy overseeing the PEPFAR program, which continues to provide HIV drugs even as Washington trims prevention and surveillance spending and prepares to wind down operations in South Africa. The State Department said conference discussions were “substantive and constructive,” the Telegraph reports.

  • Bass, however, said the map was not only “disrespectful,” it was a “significant tell.” She cited the downplaying of data collection issues during the “lethal, haphazard, and shocking termination of US government foreign aid for global health” and the “slow evisceration of CDC.” “As this session made clear in so many ways, the US Department of State Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy is redrawing the map and rewriting history,” she wrote.

What can we expect when Donny has incompetents like Marco, RFK,Jr, Pistol Pete, Oz, et al running these departments.

With the success of the DSA in the polls the GOP is resorting to a tried and true bunch of manure….the second coming of the Red Scare….

Shortly after announcing the mission of turning the 2026 midterms into a “hate election,” the campaign brain trust for the Republican Party has settled on the secret-weapon epithet it plans to deploy against its Democratic congressional rivals: “Communism.”

No, really: Three and a half decades after the collapse of the Cold War, the campaign chieftains of the right are planning to revive the paranoid political stylings of Joe McCarthy. The rationale for this round of 21st-century red-baiting stems largely from the recent string of primary wins racked up by Democratic candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America; in the perfervid imaginings of the right, socialists are just genteel stalking horses for Communists, with Marxism serving as the intoxicant of choice for raving leftists of all description. So the thing to do is to call out any and all Democrats as no-good Reds, determined to undermine and overthrow true-blue American individualism and laissez-faire capitalism at every term.

(you can bet your butt that I will take on the myth of free markets and soon)

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/republicans-dsa-communism/

The GOP has never been afraid of using this fearmongering tactic….but even the Dems are running scared and are using a tried and true insult…..FEAR.

Finally, the Prophet of Doom has a warning…..

The British psychic widely known as the “Prophet of Doom” has issued some alarming forecasts regarding US President Donald Trump. Craig Hamilton-Parker rose to prominence after accurately predicting both Brexit and Trump’s 2016 election win.

Addressing his 242,000 YouTube subscribers, Craig described a vision that came to him while dreaming, which appeared to depict the controversial president caught up in some form of crisis — one he believes will reach a critical point within the next six to eight weeks.

He explains: “I had a dream of President Trump in a panic room – one of those rooms you lock yourself in if there’s been an attack. I thought, ‘That seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere’. When dreams come like that, I have to think, ‘Why is my unconscious throwing that to me?'”. Heightened tensions between the United States and Iran have recently led to “blood for blood” threats against President Trump and his family.

…

“I’m not predicting there’s going to be a nuclear war or anything like that,” Craig stressed, “But this is kind of like symbolic, because dreams always exaggerate things, but it made me feel that there’s a really high risk right now and danger to life to not only Trump, but other members of the American administration generally.”

https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/prophet-doom-psychic-warns-danger-37500532

To end the day with a little humor…

I hope that the video kinda cleansed your mind from the garbage of the week….

That Was The Week That Was…..

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and asd always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–01Aug26

A new month begins and not much to look forward to as long as Tweedle Dum is still in office…..and still firing off that untrained mouth.

Question of the week:  Christmas In July–Why?

Local–It is Summer in the South and it is 5am as I write and the heat index is 95 degrees…the joys of Summer in the South….makes one want to find a cool hole and crawl in.

Personal–One doctor was happy that my prostrate cancer is not progressing so he be happy…others not so much….I will be having the same procedures after the first of the year…Happy New Year to me.

My butcher let me know he just made fresh batch of his sausage, garlic and black pepper, so I have to smile a bit…..it is wonderful grilled.

Shall we commence?

The World Cup has just ended and now FIFA wants to sell the grass (the weed not the weed)….

Even the field for the World Cup final is for sale. FIFA, accused of charging high prices for this year’s tournament in the United States, is selling the grass that will be used for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey at $450 per piece, reports the AP. FIFA’s store says each segment of turf is 17.5cm by 17.5cm by 17.5cm (that’s a little north of 6 square inches). Soccer’s governing body did not immediately respond to an email requesting details of the dimensions. “Own a genuine piece of football history with an authentic 2026 FIFA World Cup Piece of the pitch, permanently preserved in a premium acrylic with a USB keepsake,” the website says. “Each piece contains an original fragment of the iconic Final playing surface, making it a unique collectible that celebrates one of the world’s greatest sporting events.”

FIFA said “the acrylic USB features an authenticity film, while offering a sleek, contemporary display piece. Presented in a premium hinged shoulder box with striking spot UV detailing, this exclusive item is designed for collectors, fans, and football enthusiasts alike.” FIFA is making the turf available only to addresses in the United States and Europe. “Orders will not be shipped until after the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final,” the governing body said. Players and coaches have criticized the quality of the field at MetLife, which usually uses an artificial surface for NFL games of the New York Giants and Jets.

How many idiots will fall for this scam?  Remember the Berlin Wall?  You could buy a piece of the wall back in the day and it was mostly a scam….some scams stand up to the test of time.

Let’s begin our magical journey down the lanes of obfuscation (The MSM not me)….

AS a cancer patient I am always reading about different ways of treating and such….but this one caught my eye for the little blue pill…..

Sildenafil already has a history of reinvention.

Researchers originally developed the drug for heart-related conditions. It later became Viagra, the erectile-dysfunction medicine approved in 1998, after trials revealed its striking effect on erections. The same chemical is also sold to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, a dangerous form of high blood pressure in the lungs.

https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/viagras-next-act-could-be-stopping-cancer-from-spreading/

So a twofer…..you get a rager and stop the spread of your cancer.

Chasing her youth a woman dies…..

A visit to a Bronx wellness center ended in death for a 27-year-old woman, and the man who allegedly treated her is now facing criminal charges, Gizmodo reports. New York City police say the woman became unconscious after undergoing an “anti-aging therapy” at the Bereshit Lifestyle Center on Sunday; she was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her name and the specific treatment she received have not been released. The city medical examiner will determine the cause of death, and the investigation is ongoing. Gothamist reports that the woman received an injection of some sort. Toxicology testing is being done, PIX11 reports.

The clinic’s operator, Luis Rojas Cabrera, has been arrested and charged with reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of a profession. Bereshit’s website describes Rojas as a surgeon and naturopath in the Dominican Republic, and says in the US he is certified in alternative and holistic medicine. The center advertises services from weight-loss help to “immunity boosting.” The case comes amid growing scrutiny of longevity and alternative-medicine operations: in Miami, a man was charged last week in connection with a woman’s death at a psychedelic retreat, and two attendees at a Las Vegas anti-aging conference were hospitalized last year after peptide injections.

How sad….youth being all consuming.

I did not know how many “ghost chasers’ were on TV until my daughter’s boyfriend started talking….omg….

Thirty-six people sat alone in a room listening to music. Half of them walked out irritable, mildly anxious, and convinced the music felt sadder than it was. The other half walked out fine. The only difference between the two groups was something none of them could hear.

That experiment, published in April 2026, didn’t set out to study music perception or mood. The researchers were after something more specific: a plausible physical explanation for what causes ghosts. Or more precisely, what causes people to feel like they’re in the presence of one. The answer they found was already in the walls.

That experiment, published in April 2026, didn’t set out to study music perception or mood. The researchers were after something more specific: a plausible physical explanation for what causes ghosts. Or more precisely, what causes people to feel like they’re in the presence of one. The answer they found was already in the walls.

Scientists Finally Have an Answer for What Causes ‘Ghosts’

You know all those shows and I do not believe anyone has found the ghost….go figure.

I love my mind and enjoy thinking a bunch….but what type of thinker am I?

An investigation into what people think about has put the spotlight on the modern mind, revealing thoughts dominated by work, the need for coffee and a strong desire to go back to bed.

It also found evidence for four distinct groups of thinkers who spend more time than most either worrying about the world; mulling on household chores and finances; focusing on the mind and body; or the work-hard, play-hard combination of career and pleasure.

The groups are not definitive and people will move between them, but the finding shows how sampling people’s thoughts at random can provide a nuanced view of human thinking patterns, according to the researchers.

Economists at Claremont Graduate University, in California, and Wuhan University, in Hubei, China, explored people’s conscious thoughts after finding a surprising dearth of work on the topic. “So much of what it means to be human is about what’s going on in our head,” said Dr Joshua Tasoff, a senior author on the study. “The fact that we haven’t really looked at that as economists is really quite extraordinary.”

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/25/four-types-of-thinker-which-one-are-you

I guess I am the first kind….and you?

I read about this before but not in so much detail….personally I think it is a BS story….but I include it so my readers can say that I try to be fair and balanced (most of the time)….to me it sounds like an ONION story but you decide….

Trans dolls equipped with removable genitals are set to dished out to schoolchildren in Minnesota.

Known as MyGender Dolls, the toys carry gender-neutral names like “Sam” and are designed for use in “therapeutic” settings with children from the age of four.

The “first-of-their-kind” dolls are intended to help children explore gender identity, with the programme’s stated purpose being to help young people “learn about the different options that exist for who they can be”.

They were developed over a six-year period at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Health.

The dolls are paper-based and come with more than 100 interchangeable items, including accessories, clothing and hairstyles.

During the research phase, “trans and gender diverse” children were paid to interact with the dolls and take part in group discussions about gender.

Although the university’s medical school receives roughly $15million (£11.2million) per year in state funding, the institution has previously insisted that no public money was directed towards the MyGender Dolls research.

https://www.gbnews.com/news/us/minnesota-trans-dolls-removable-genitals-children-schools

Finally if there were not enough reasons to avoid Florida….a new reason shows up…..Leprosy.

Florida health officials are tracking an unusual problem: Leprosy cases are ticking up, and armadillos appear to be part of the story. The state confirmed 36 cases of Hansen’s disease (another name for leprosy) in 2025, 27 likely acquired within Florida, and many in the central part of the state, Gizmodo reports. Seventeen cases have been reported so far this year. Researchers say nine-banded armadillos in the Southeast can naturally harbor the bacteria that cause leprosy and may transmit it to humans.

The curable disease remains uncommon and difficult to catch: About 95% of people are naturally resistant, and infection typically requires months of close exposure. Florida’s surgeon general recently stressed that this isn’t a high-incidence crisis, per WFTV, though it could still be endemic, meaning a disease that “has a consistent presence in a specific area,” notes WYFF. Still, some cases have no clear source, raising the possibility of transmission through environmental exposure, with armadillos and their droppings helping the bacteria persist in soil, per Gizmodo.

That does it for me on this Saturday.

I hope everyone has a great weekend…..enjoy the Dog Days of Summer…. and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”